Facebook Is Said to Create Mobile Location-Tracking App

Feb. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Facebook Inc. is developing a
smartphone application that will track the location of users,
two people with knowledge of the matter said, bolstering efforts
to benefit from growing use of social media on mobile computers.

The app, scheduled for release by mid-March, is designed to
help users find nearby friends and would run even when the
program isn’t open on a handset, said one of the people, who
asked not to be identified because the plans aren’t public.

Facebook is adding features to help it profit from the
surging portion of its more than 1 billion users who access the
service via handheld devices. The tracking app could help
Facebook sell ads based on users’ whereabouts and daily habits.
It may also raise the hackles of consumers and privacy advocates
concerned about the company’s handling of personal information.

Regulators in the U.S. and Europe have already scrutinized
Menlo Park, California-based Facebook amid concerns that it
doesn’t do enough to keep data private. Apple Inc. and Google
Inc. have similar tools for continuously keeping tabs on user
whereabouts.

Derick Mains, a spokesman for Facebook, declined to
comment.

The team developing Facebook’s location software is being
led by Peter Deng, a product director who joined from Google in
2007, one person said. The group also includes engineers from
Glancee, a location-tracking startup Facebook acquired in May,
and Gowalla, a location-based social network whose assets were
purchased in December 2011, the person said.

Facebook fell 5.5 percent to $28.11 yesterday in New York.
The stock has gained 59 percent since closing at a record low on
Sept. 4.

‘Mobile First’

Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg emphasized the need
for new mobile products in a Jan. 30 call with analysts.

“A lot of what we had to do last year was simply to
improve our mobile development process,” Zuckerberg said. “The
next thing we’re going to do is get really good at building new
mobile-first experiences.”

Facebook already records the GPS coordinates of users when
they post status updates or photos from their phones, or check
in to a venue. With the new app, the company would go a step
further by tracking user whereabouts in the “background” of
Apple’s mobile operating system, even when other programs are
running or the phone isn’t in use, one person said.

While Facebook would probably need to ask permission from
users to track their location to be in accordance with Apple’s
guidelines for developers, Facebook may have already gotten
consent from its users to run such a feature.

Friends, Events

Facebook’s data-use policy tells users that the company may
use information on location “to tell you and your friends about
people or events nearby, or offer deals to you that you might be
interested in.” The company said it may also put together data
“to serve you ads that might be more relevant.”

“When we get your GPS location, we put it together with
other location information we have about you (like your current
city),” the data use policy reads. “But we only keep it until
it is no longer useful to provide you services, like keeping
your last GPS coordinates to send you relevant notifications.”

A host of apps, including Apple’s Find My Friends and Math
Camp Inc.’s Highlight, constantly track user locations to help
them find friends or places of interest. Many of the programs
have failed to gain wide audiences because of privacy concerns
and the heavy toll such apps have on the battery life of mobile
phones.